19 Goals for 2019! (+Website Restoration update)

For the past week, I’ve been doing a bit of reconnaissance on this blog.

Here’s what I believe happened, in my extremely un-trained words: A Wordpress plugin malfunction resulted in about a dozen full backup files being saved to my URL’s disc space last June. With the disc space nearly full, the backup application then stopped attempting backups at all. I wasn’t alerted to this, so I went to post a life and training update last Sunday evening and then my entire website vanished from the internet. My URL’s disc space was totally full, and this update was the straw that broke the camels back.

It took me many hours of reading instructional articles and watching “web design for dummies” youtube videos to troubleshoot the problem. I ended up having to totally uninstall and reinstall my blogging software, and then all I could use to restore it was one of those dozen fateful backups from last June.

So I effectively lost 6 months of blog posts. In the words of my most fabulous student, GOOD GREIF.

In a way this had been a blessing in disguise. I might have lost all the records I had about my training for Toronto, but to be honest, I’d been feeling like a lot of those posts were kind of repetitive and for the last few months all I did was talk about how challenging work was and then go silent for weeks on end. Not brilliant content, am I right?

So I looked back at my photo folders and notebooks and considered which posts from the last few moths I did kind of miss, and now I’m working on re-creating those. As for the rest of them… they can rest in piece in the graveyard of the internet, where they belong.

I’m looking at this as kind of a fresh start for 2019. I know I wrote a “30 Goals For Age 30” post on here back in August… and I have literally no clue what I wrote on that. So here are 19 goals I have for 2019!

#1: Travel to at least one new country. Peru was amazing last year, and this year I have my sights set on central and eastern Europe!

#2: Hike Mt. Monadnock and Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, as well as Mt. Katahdin in Maine. I know this is daunting. I also know I live way too close to these legendary mountains to NOT climb them!

#3: Visit at least two out of state friends who I don’t get to see nearly enough of.

#4: Read at least 20 books. I read 18 last year:)

#5: Write more fiction. This is the one goal from last year that I don’t feel like I nailed. New year, new shot at making goals happen.

#6: PR in at least one distance. Even if it’s not the marathon!

#7: Don’t touch my phone before breakfast. Anyone else end up scrolling for 20 minutes before they get out of bed? Yeah, it’s a waste of time. Ever since I gave myself this goal on New Years Eve (this is my only real resolution) my live has legitimately improved. I’m going to write a post on my relationship with my phone/social media some time soon, but this has been a really positive step.

#8: Start a new graduate program. Surprise! I applied to a few graduate programs. Yes, I already have a masters. No, I am not quitting my job. I’m waiting to hear back, then I’ll write a little about my professional trajectory.

#9: Do even more “tidying up”. Marie Kondo style. I honestly have so much stuff. And the idea of fitting my entire one-bedroom apartment into a storage unit for 1.5 years while I bunk at home and go to grad school is already stressing me out. I need to go a bit more minimalist!

#10: Say No to Lattes. Dude, my latte problem got out of control in 2018. I am hereby limiting myself to three NON-LATTE, <$5 drinks from Starbucks each month.

#11: Floss more consistently. This might sound babyish, but it’s something I’m trying to work on. Along the same thread…

#12: Go to an oral surgeon and if need be get my wisdom teeth out. I’ve been putting this off for 12 years. Its one of very few things I am scared of.

#13: Find a few new ways to be more eco-friendly. I’ve always been good about using re-usable cups, bottles and containers. Last year I cut paper towels and ziplock baggies out of my life. This year I’m thinking about trying composting.

#14: Shop less. I have abad habit of shopping for fun, but there are lots of other things to do that are fun. So my goal is to make a list of all the other fun things to keep on hand and look at that whenever I want to shop, and pick something else to do.

#15: Surround myself by people who make me feel happy, and who I want to make feel happy. This might sound kind of sappy, but I think it’s really important. In the past I would spend time in situations that didn’t make me feel good in the name of normalcy. And sometimes I’d let the comparison game, so easy to get into with social media being what it is, get me down. This year, NO MORE. It’s time for me to make intentional choices about who I am and who I spend time with.

#16: Use my planner more consistently. I revised my personalized planner this year to make it even more useful to me. Now I just have to use it!

#17: Try an Arial Yoga class. I’ve wanted to do this for years! It looks like so much fun!

#18: Take more pictures!

#19: Blog more about what I’m passionate about, and less about what I think people want me to be passionate about. That’s all.

Anyone out there have a goal they’re working towards this year? leave it in the comments, I love knowing what’s going on with those of you who follow!